Assaulted Amathole councillor wants R20m for physical and emotional 'trauma'

Amathole district municipality councillor Nanziwe Rulashe is claiming R20m in damages from executive mayor Nceba Ndikinda and the municipality for “humiliation” and “assault” after she was attacked at her office two months ago.

Rulashe was captured on video being pulled, kicking and screaming, from her office by armed men.

Videos of the attack had circulated widely on social media. Rulashe said the incident had taken place moments after a heated strategic planning meeting.

She was ordered to leave her office by two men and a woman. She refused and was forcibly removed. Two security guards were seen later in the footage.

Five people were arrested in connection with the incident, including two security personnel.

Rulashe suffered further trauma when gunmen later opened fire at her East London home.

In a letter addressed to Ndikinda, Rulashe’s lawyers GM Attorneys said the incident had caused and continued to cause trauma to her, her children, family, colleagues and members of society.

“Consequently, she feels physically and psychologically vulnerable to further attacks and is unable to actively discharge her duties,” the letter reads.

The lawyers said Rulashe was undergoing therapy and it was not clear when she would be able to go back to work.

They accused Ndikinda and the council of not taking any steps against Thandekile Mnyimba, the municipal manager, and Akhona Tinta, the director for strategic planning and management, who are alleged to have been involved in Rulashe’s assault, as no disciplinary action was taken against them.

“In these circumstances, we are instructed to demand, as [we] hereby do, that the executive mayor and/or the municipality must give an undertaking that:

• immediate steps will be taken to suspend, otherwise remove, Mnyimba and/or Tinta pending the investigation into and/or finalisation of disciplinary proceedings into the above-mentioned incident of gender-based violence, traumatisation and humiliation of our clients;
• the necessary security arrangements will be made so that in the unlikely event that our client will in future be emotionally ready to reassume her normal duties, her safe return to office is guaranteed; and
• her home and her person are protected until assurance can be given by the police that all actual or perceived physical danger has been removed.”

The lawyers also wanted an undertaking that Rulashe would be reimbursed for expenses she incurred as a result of the incident, including alternative accommodation after the shooting at her home, “and liability will be accepted, and our client will be duly compensated for objectively quantified damages amounting to no less than R20m which she has sustained as a result of the incident”.

The damages, the lawyers said, include medical, counselling, security-related costs, general damages for pain and suffering, physical and psychological trauma.  

They have given the mayor until April 10 to give the undertakings, failing which they will file an urgent application at the high court on Rulashe’s behalf.

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